Laneberg Wine - The UK's most Northerly Winery

Aim

Expand production of our award winning English wine, funding new equipment and grapes for the 2020 vintage.

The UK's Most Northerly Winery 

I'm Elise Lane, founder and head winemaker at Laneberg Wine in my hometown of Gateshead. After more than a decade working in finance in London, me and my husband Nick sold up and moved North, using some of the proceeds to set up the Winery. 

I now live in Gateshead with Nick and our two boys Max, 6 and Reuben, 2. 

credit: High Life North

Laneberg is an Urban Winery, which means we make the wine here, but buy our grapes from the grower. There are a few examples of these in the UK and around the world now. So far we have sourced grapes from Leicestershire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. 

Our mission is to bring the best of English wine to Tyneside, Wearside, Durham, Teeside, Northumberland and beyond. Promoting inclusivity in the enjoyment of this wonderful diverse drink.

We try to make our wine with as little intervention as possible, letting the grapes tell the story, they are vegan and low sulphite. We also use sustainable winemaking methods as much as we can, using lightweight glass bottles, no wastewater discharge into the waterways and the cold of the northern winter to cool the post-fermentation wines in tank instead of lots of electricity. 

There are a plethora of breweries and distilleries to choose from in this area, but we are unique, giving the people the chance to shop local for their wine for the first time.

Our Project

In 2018 and 2019 we made 8,000 and 9,000 bottles of wine respectively, however with more equipment and grapes the winery has a capacity of around 30,000 bottles. We'd like to reach this number of bottles in a couple of years time and make this business sustainable for the long term.

The growth cycle and annual ripening of grapes for wine means that we have to buy grapes all in one go for each vintage and it can be between 6-18 months before that wine is sold and revenue comes into the business. Therefore, in order to take the next step in increased production, we need your help to raise the cash to make this happen.

Our Wines

We made our first vintage in 2018 and we were thrilled to win bronze medals in the 2019 International Wine and Spirits Competition and WineGB Awards. In 2019 we upped our game and won silver in the WineGB 2020 awards. 

We have also secured a contract to supply Fortnum and Mason with their own label English Bacchus, beating competition from 39 other English wines to do so. 

Wine expert and national treasure, Oz Clarke said this when we met him in Manchester for Three Wine Men in late 2019.

“I am thrilled to discover this Gateshead winery. Gateshead? Yes!!! Urban wineries which buy grapes where ever they want but make the wine in cities are becoming big in Britain. Scented, lemon-streaked Bacchus from Leicestershire, made in Gateshead? England at its best!”

Our customers feel similarly, and with them we have created a wonderful community of likeminded people  on social media. 

Our Stockists

We sell our wine online on our website, but we're also stocked in some of the North East's best known shops, bars and restaurants, including, Carruthers and Kent in Gosforth, Saint Vincent, The French Quarter and Blackfriars in Newcastle, the Rare Drop in Gateshead and Corbridge Larder to name but a few.

Our Team

In 2019 we were able to take on Liam as Assistant Winemaker (and any other job that needs doing!), he's local and this has become the dream job for him! 

We were able to do that by securing an EU loan from NEL Fund Managers. However, we've now almost reached the limit of how much debt we'd like the business to owe. 

Reaching new customers 

Our wines are selling fast and we'd like to make more, there are more customers, restaurants and shops we'd like to reach.

We've put together some fantastic rewards including some quite unique experiences to tempt you to help us achieve our goal, and we'd be thrilled to see our supporters at the winery in person! Cheers! Salud! Sköl! Santé! Priekā!

This project successfully funded on 8th September 2020